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Friday, July 20, 2012

Worst drought since 1956 threatens world food crisis

Worst drought since 1956 threatens world food crisis


telegraph.co.ukMarion Kujawa looks over an ear of corn picked from one of his fields near Ashley, Illinois. The field usually yields more than 180 bushels of corn per acre, but Kujawa expects to get less than 15 bushels per acre from this year's drought-damaged crop.






For now - at least - all eyes are on the weather forecast for those US states that have been hardest hit, including Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. While light rain fell in some parts day, there is little more forecast over the next two weeks.


The drought forced the US government last week to cut its forecast for corn production this year to 12.9bn bushels from a prediction of 14.8bn it made last month. "I get on my knees every day and I'm saying an extra prayer right now," Tom Vilsack, the US agricultural secretary, said today. "If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it."
Dan Basse, president of AgResources in Chicago, said that the government's prediction will prove too optimistic if the dry weather persists. "We've been traipsing through the fields of southern Illinois and it is worse than the government says," explained Mr Basse.
A sharp difference with 2008 is that speculative money is playing a far smaller role this time, said Mr McCambridge. Although rapid, analysts say the sharp increases over the last month are an appropriate response to the pullback in production and uncertainty over the eventual size of the corn, wheat and soyabean crops. Corn futures hit a record $8.16 a bushel on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange today, while soybeans touched $17.49 a bushel. If there is some good news, it is that rice - a staple for many of the world's poorest - has escaped the increases.

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